The tiny cricket found in Sabah’s Tangkulap Forest Reserve may represent a species new to science, though researchers still need to confirm its identity. (Le Monde pic)PETALING JAYA: It is tempting to think that, in 2026, scientists have already catalogued most of the creatures sharing the planet with us. Yet in the forests of Borneo, an insect small enough to disappear into leaf litter may still turn out to be something science has never formally recorded.
That possibility emerged during a recent 10-day expedition to Tangkulap Forest Reserve in Sabah, where an international team of entomologists went searching for crickets, grasshoppers, mantises, dragonflies and other insects.
According to a report by Le Monde, one of the more intriguing finds was a small, apparently mute cricket belonging to the genus Paranisitra. The insect may prove to be a new species - and, notably, the genus itself had not previously been recorded in Borneo.
